Subj : Isolation Diary To : Nancy Backus From : Barry Martin Date : Fri Jun 26 2020 15:53:00 Hi Nancy! -=> Quoting Barry Martin to Nancy Backus on 16-Jun-2020 10:27 <=- NB>> And now on to the ones waiting in line.... ;) BM> We're caught up?! NB> After a manner of speaking... ;) Got the missing 20 messages NB> back in queue, anyway... ;) In the meantime, slipped a little NB> again... ;) So things are essentially back to normal. Do have what appears to be a double batch of messages from you this morning: ten messages, which I'm guessing is your customary five per day run times two. Yesterday morning looks like there was a problem transferring messages at the levels above me. Still ended up being a rather large packet for me. BM>>> Around 50 miles ESE of here a tornado hit a farm, tore the roof off BM>>> one building, the debris hit another building causing some to break BM>>> off and hit a third building causing an electrical fire which killed BM>>> 400 hogs. (I was half-waiting to hear a follow-up story on a pig BM>>> roast.) NB>>> Invite the whole neighborhood in so as not to waste the goodness...? NB>>> Just have to practice social distancing and crowd in too tight... ;) BM>> Well I was sort of thinking along those lines too -- I think with 400 BM>> hogs it's more like invite the whole town. ...Never heard what BM>> happened: probably inspected and sold off to a pet food feed company. NB>> The party sounds like a lot more fun, though... BM> It does!! I haven't been to a pig roast in ages. NB> Nor have I... :) And sort of along that line Illinois is starting "Phase 4" today: restaurants are allowed to open at 25% capacity, gyms 50%, gatherings up to 250 people (though that number seems too large based on the first two) so can have smaller weddings and funerals. Pig roast sounds more fun! BM> NB>>> And we still haven't even opened the package we got Before it all NB>>> started... ;) BM>> We did. Though the package before the pandemic started was just about BM>> empty. I don't think we'll have to buy another pack all Summer, at BM>> least! NB>> I'm finally going to have to open the new package soon... but we did NB>> have probably six or eight rolls left from the earlier package... Just NB>> took the last one to set out for when the one on the roller runs NB>> out.... ;) Like I said when we got it, if it hadn't been for the NB>> coupon for $3 off, and the special deal that buying it would give us NB>> 10 cents per gallon off on gas, we wouldn't have done it that early... BM> Some deals are just too good to pass up! I would have done the same. NB> And I finally took the first roll out of that package... ;) Celebration time!! With the talk of a possible second wave of the coronavirus might be a good idea to buy a few things ahead just in case. Not hoarding, but more along the lines of keeping an extra small pack of toilet paper on hand, Kleenex, paper towels, etc. Don't wait until on the last roll/box has been opened. Same for some basic food that's storable. Buy on sale, of course! NB> (Hormel refrigerated meats) NB>>> The ones I was referring to were the beef tips in gravy (which I like NB>>> to have on hand as a backup meal or basis thereof) and the roast beef NB>>> au jus... as of last week, they were still out... shopping is either NB>>> later today or tomorrow, so don't know current status.... BM>> Ah -- the beef tips is a handy quick meal/basis for a meal; the roast BM>> beef is just good! :) More of a Deli or Kitchen item and I rarely BM>> wander those sections. NB>> In our store, it's still in the Meat department, close to the bacon NB>> and dinner ham slices... I finally asked a worker about them... not NB>> even available on the order form yet... he assured me that the moment NB>> they were available he'd be ordering them in.... to just keep watching NB>> for them... Still not there Friday, but the shelf tags are still there, NB>> with the empty spots... BM> The folks in the advertising department got ahead of schedule? Yes, BM> good thing to inquire: some times items aren't where one expects, or BM> have been moved. Plus with your request he knows there is a demand BM> and might be able to order a little extra to not run out. NB> To be a little more clear, the items had fallen off the regular NB> order form since not available at the moment from the ultimate NB> supplier... This is something that has been a regular item on the NB> shelf for forever... and as the worker told me also, it's an easy NB> money-maker for the store... and something he tries to keep in NB> stock... It simply isn't available from the packing plant, NB> apparently... He also recognized us as regular customers of our NB> Wegmans, and thanked us for our ongoing loyalty... ;) Good on the recognition, bad on one of your favourite foods not being at all available. The good news is the grocery worker knows it is popular, especially with a good customer. A high profit item is good for the store, better when coupled with high sales. Even with a low profit margin high sales can make it a very profitable item. Of course us consumers tend to look it it through a different set of accounting eyeballs. :) BM> Yes, possible to substitute Cream of Asparagus for the Cream of BM> Mushroom in certain recipes. I'd guess the C of A label would even BM> have a recipe suggestion and perhaps even substitutions. NB> Probably... ;) The canned soups section still has a lot of holes but looks like they are getting better supplied. I tend to cut back on my soup consuption in Summer because it's hot -- yeah, don't have to heat it up so high to serve, just still hot. BM>> Which for some reason reminds me: sounded like someone was having a BM>> giant Pong game yesterday from about 11 a.m. to almost noon: in the BM>> direction of the direction of the I-74 Bridge could heard "BEEEP" BM>> randomly followed by a "BOOOOP". Sometimes a couple of spaced BEEEPs BM>> (missed the serve?). Random timings of the beeps and boops. Haven't BM>> heard/read of the source; was just sort of strange. NB> Sounds almost like heavy equipment back-up alarms... just NB> slightly different on different machines, maybe... :) Well, the "BEEEP" and "BOOOP: we somewhat similar-sounding to the back up alarms, just lower in tone (most back-up alarms have a bit of a piercing quality). Also singular: most back-ups go 'beeep-beeep-beeep' and the tones I heard were always singular. Haven't heard since; casually looked for a why/source but didn't find anything. Another mystery! BM>>> Yes, still a lot of variables, some of which are highly variable: for BM>>> example just because the law says can open 100% doesn't mean the BM>>> students will agree. Some will be fine with shoulder-to-shoulder BM>>> lecture hall seating, others keep some distance, others keep more BM>>> distance, others still tele-learning...... NB>>> And it might be more up to the administrators than the students NB>>> anyway... :) BM>> As far as distancing? Probably. Administrators probably would not BM>> want to have to close down their school because of an outbreak that BM>> might have been preventable or minimized. NB>> Distancing, decisions re opening or not, class sizes, cleaning things, NB>> etc, etc.... Some stuff has already been distance learning, and NB>> tele-classrooms, but that's not always the best solution for all NB>> classrooms... ;) BM> Right: what works for one scenario won't work at all for another. An BM> older child could probably interact with another via teleconferencing BM> to build a castle/whatever using blocks but I don't think that would BM> work to get the point across to a pre-schooler or the first few grades. NB> Actually, distance learning is really more workable at the NB> college and graduate study levels, possibly somewhat at the high NB> school level, than at the elementary levels... :) Yes. A lot of high school and above classes seem like they could be taught just as easily via video as in person. Video could even have the advantages like rewinding to catch a word, or rewind further to re-introduce a concept. Art class - some aspects could: thinking painting (Bob Ross on PBS!). Pottery - may have a problem firing using the oven! BM>> Yup: LIS I did get a haircut last Thursday. The shop did seem busier BM>> than usual when I got there, had three stylists instead of the usual BM>> two (though I don't think I had been there on a Thursday before the BM>> COVID-19 shutdown). NB>> Might have put on an extra one to handle the extra load... apparently NB>> there is enough space to accommodate and still 'social distance' in NB>> the shop.... ;) BM> I'm thinking 'yes' to the extra stylist on duty to handle the backlog BM> load. Could have been their normal staffing as normally I don't go on BM> Thursdays. As for social distancing the chairs in use were semi- BM> clustered together but here were clear barriers hanging between the BM> chairs, plus stylists usually rent or are otherwise assigned a BM> specific chair so probably not able to spead out further to use the BM> other chairs. I didn't feel uncomfortable and no one else seemed to BM> either. NB> I'd guess that people that would have felt uncomfortable wouldn't NB> have ventured out yet... :) That might be a statistic being overlooked! ¯ ® ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ® ¯ @Q.COM ® ¯ ® .... The tooth is the only part of the human body that cannot heal itself. --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47 þ wcECHO 4.2 ÷ ILink: The Safe BBS þ Bettendorf, IA --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462 * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com | 856-933-7096 (454:1/1) .